South Africans steal the show - African Championships report - Day Four

South Africa won four gold medals to signal their intention of retaining their top position in the medal standings at the Africa Athletics Championships at the Germain Commarmond Stadium in bambous Mauritius on Saturday.

South Africa's Justine Robbeson (the reigning World Junior Heptathlon champion) won the women's javelin with a third round effort of 60.60m. What's more she set a new Championships record.

"This is a nice way of coming back after being away for a year with a back injury. I could have thrown further if it was not for the strong head wind during the competition," says Robbeson.

Earlier Chris Harmse (South Africa) won the men's Hammer Throw with a 77.55m effort. This was a 1.49m improvement over the Championships record he set in Brazzaville, Congo two years ago.

"The wind was a little strong today and that hindered me from reaching the 80m mark," said the Africa hammer record holder. "With the Lord's blessing, I will throw much further at the World Cup," said Harmse. South Africa bagged two more medals through Okkert Brits (5.20m) in Pole Vault and Janice Josephs (5876 points) in the Heptathlon.

Meanwhile Kenya prevailed in their dual with Ethiopia in the women's 10,000m. Edith Masai and Isabella Ochichi took turns leading the race. They denied Ethiopia's Kiros Abeye, Bezunesh Bekele and Ejegayehu Dibaba, the chance to settle in the race, while the youthful Emily Chebet bid her time.

In the last two laps Masai and Ochichi broke away. Masai (31:27.96) eventually outpaced Ochichi (31:29.43) in the sprint for the finish line. Both were inside the previous Championships record of 31:32.25 set by Ethiopia's Deratu Tulu. Chebet overtook Abeye on the home straight to ensure Kenya's clean sweep of the medal.

Morocco's Tariku Bouguetaib (17.25) and Younes Moudrik (16.58) won the gold and bronze medal in the men's Triple Jump, while South Africa's Khotose Mokoena (16.67) bagged his second silver medal of the championships. Elsewhere Tunisian Eymen Ahmed Ben won the 110m Hurdles.

Going into the final day of the five-day contest South Africa tops the medals standing. Kenya is second ahead of Nigeria. The medals are spread out among 20 countries.